Wednesday, August 25, 2010

The other day I was browsing through my mother's button box when I came across these beauties:

I'm betting they were from a coat back in the 1970's. Who knows? But they were nice, big wooden buttons, so I pulled them out and wondered what I could do with them. A few days later, I got my newest Pottery Barn catalog, and look what I found:

image courtesy potterybarn.com

I just love those pillows with all their buttony cuteness! And the fabric reminded me of canvas. You know, this kind:

Game on.

The dimensions of the Pottery Barn pillows are 16" x 26", so I cut two rectangles 18" x 28" from my dropcloth. (I always add one inch to each side of my fabric whenever I sew anything. My sewing skills are very elementary, and allowing that one inch seam allowance keeps things simple.)

To create the look of the front of the Pottery Barn pillow, I cut a third panel of fabric 25% shorter than the others, but I added a couple of extra inches to fold under, so that panel was 18" x 23". I folded one end under two inches and pressed it, creating a panel 18" x 21".

See the short panel on top of the long panel?

This panel I placed on top of one of the other panels and pinned it in place, then sewed a straight seam about 1 1/2 inches from the fold. This created one panel to be the front of my pillow. (Note: I am not a good seamstress, but I'm a darn good pinner. Click here to see a pretty shower curtain I made via careful pinning and dismal sewing.)

Once those two pieces were sewn together, I simply took my front and back panels, put them right sides together, and sewed straight seams down the sides. I left a good-sized gap in the bottom for stuffing the pillow. (Click here for a pillow-making tutorial.) Then I turned my pillow cover right side out and pressed it.

And then for the fun part: adding the buttons! I used a tape measure and placed four buttons evenly along the front of the pillow. I used a pencil to make dots on the fabric where the buttons would go. (I just poked the pencil tip right through the button's holes to mark the place).

See the pencil marks?

Now it's starting to look like the real thing!

When the pillow case was all finished, I stuffed an old bed pillow in it and closed up the gap at the bottom.

Voila! A brand-new Pottery-Barn-inspired pillow, all made of materials I had on hand!

Too cute! I've got a mess up on curtains from "yes, you know what" drop cloths. They were from Lowe's instead of Home Depot, they have the seam running cross-ways. So, thanks to you now I can not let it go to waste. Make pillows! They are precious, girl.Thanks for the inspiration!

Oh, I love it, Richella!! I've held onto an extra drop cloth for months now with the intention of making pillow covers for my couch pillows, but have been too nervous about it. (Not sure about the closure) You did a great job!

i bet you could guess my favorite parts of this post... but i won't make you :)1. that you have your mama's button box (oh, i love a button box!)2. taht you have now used buttons from that box and are enjoying a bit of your mom's stuff everytime you look at your new pillows!love you!

Richella,I am sorry I am just getting to see this post. I have been having computer issues!Your pillow turned out perfectly, and I love that you used those old buttons. That pillow is priceless in my book.Love the drop cloth too! Go girl!Traci

I just wanted to stop by and let you know that I linked to this post today from the new Home & Garden channel at Craft Gossip. :) My hope is to share many of the fabulous projects I see everyday with the vast CG audience. I hope you will not only stop by and subscribe to CG, but will tell your friends about the new category! Hope you see some traffic from it!

Your feature will appear in the main Craft Gossip RSS feed, on the main home page and can be found directly here http://homeandgarden.craftgossip.com/?s=pb+inspired

If you would like a "featured by" button, you can grab one here!http://homeandgarden.craftgossip.com/grab-a-craft-gossip-button/

You could also make this pillow using an envelope style flap closure on the back. you would put button holes on the upper portion of the flap and buttons on the under side prior to sewing the front panel to the back.

Child of God, apprentice to Jesus, wife of a great guy, and mom of three wonderful sons, I'm a blessed and profoundly grateful woman. I'm also a writer and speaker, and I serve on the Ministry Team and Board of Directors of Renovare', a ministry dedicated to Christian spiritual formation.

I love blogs for the glimpses they provide into people's lives, so my blog gives you a glimpse into my life--my home, my family, my faith. My prayer is that this blog might impart some grace to you.